Numerical Studies of Magnetic Reconnection and Heating Mechanisms for the Ellerman Bomb

An Ellerman Bomb(EB)is a kind of small scale reconnection event,which is ubiquitously formed in the upper photosphere or the lower chromosphere.The low temperature(<10,000 K)and high density(~1019–1022)plasma there makes the magnetic reconnection process strongly influenced by partially ionized effects and radiative cooling.This work studies the highβmagnetic reconnection near the solar temperature minimum region based on high-resolution 2.5D magnetohydrodynamics simulations.The time-dependent ionization degree of hydrogen and helium are included to realize more realistic diffusivities,viscosity and radiative cooling in simulations.Numerical results show that the reconnection rate is smaller than 0.01 and decreases with time during the early quasi-steady stage,then sharply increases to a value above 0.05 in the later stage as the plasmoid instability takes place.Both the large value ofηen(magnetic diffusion caused by the electron-neutral collision)and the plasmoid instability contribute to the fast magnetic reconnection in the EB-like event.The interactions and coalescence of plasmoids strongly enhance the local compression heating effect,which becomes the dominant mechanism for heating in EBs after plasmoid instability appears.However,the Joule heating contributed byηen can play a major role to heat plasmas when the magnetic reconnection in EBs is during the quasi-steady stage with smaller temperature increases.The results also show that the radiative cooling effect suppresses the temperature increase to a reasonable range,and increases the reconnection rate and generation of thermal energy.

The Ellerman bomb and ultraviolet burst triggered successively by an emerging magnetic flux rope

Ellerman bombs(EBs)and ultraviolet(UV)bursts are common brightening phenomena,which are usually generated in the low solar atmosphere of emerging flux regions.In this paper,we have investigated the emergence of an initial un-twisted magnetic flux rope based on three-dimensional(3 D)magneto-hydrodynamic(MHD)simulations.The EB-like and UV burst-like activities successively appear in the U-shaped part of the undulating magnetic fields triggered by the Parker instability.The EB-like activity starts to appear earlier and lasts for about 80 seconds.Six minutes later,a much hotter UV burstlike event starts to appear and lasts for about 60 seconds.Along the direction vertical to the solar surface,both the EB and UV burst start in the low chromosphere,but the UV burst extends to a higher altitude in the up chromosphere.The regions with apparent temperature increase in the EB and UV burst are both located inside the small twisted flux ropes generated in magnetic reconnection processes,which are consistent with the previous 2 D simulations that most hot regions are usually located inside the magnetic islands.However,the twisted flux rope corresponding to the EB is only strongly heated after it floats up to an altitude much higher than the reconnection site during that period.Our analyses show that the EB is heated by the shocks driven by the strong horizontal flows at two sides of the U-shaped magnetic fields.The twisted flux rope corresponding to the UV burst is heated by the driven magnetic reconnection process.

Numerical studies of the Kelvin-Hemholtz instability in a coronal jet

Kelvin-Hemholtz(K-H)instability in a coronal EUV jet is studied via 2.5D MHD numerical simulations.The jet results from magnetic reconnection due to the interaction of the newly emerging magnetic field and the pre-existing magnetic field in the corona.Our results show that the Alfv e′n Mach number along the jet is about 5–14 just before the instability occurs,and it is even higher than 14 at some local areas.During the K-H instability process,several vortex-like plasma blobs with high temperature and high density appear along the jet,and magnetic fields have also been rolled up and the magnetic configuration including anti-parallel magnetic fields forms,which leads to magnetic reconnection at many X-points and current sheet fragments inside the vortex-like blob.After magnetic islands appear inside the main current sheet,the total kinetic energy of the reconnection outflows decreases,and cannot support the formation of the vortex-like blob along the jet any longer,then the K-H instability eventually disappears.We also present the results about how the guide field and flux emerging speed affect the K-H instability.We find that a strong guide field inhibits shock formation in the reconnecting upward outflow regions but helps secondary magnetic islands appear earlier in the main current sheet,and then apparently suppresses the K-H instability.As the speed of the emerging magnetic field decreases,the K-H instability appears later,the highest temperature inside the vortex blob gets lower and the vortex structure gets smaller.

Numerical experiments of disturbance to the solar atmosphere caused by eruptions

Despite extensive research on various global waves in solar eruptions, debate continues on the intrinsic nature of them. In this work, we performed numerical experiments of the coronal mass ejection with emphases on the associated large-scale MHD waves. A fast-mode shock forms in front of the flux rope during the eruption with a dimming region following it, and the development of a three-component structure of the ejecta is observed. At the flank of the flux rope, the slow-mode shock and the velocity vortices are also invoked. The dependence of the eruption energetics on the strength of the background field and the coronal plasma density distribution is apparent: the stronger the background field is, and/or the lower the coronal plasma density is, the more energetic the eruption is. In the lower Alfve′n speed environment, the slow mode shock and the large scale velocity vortices may be the source of the EIT wave. In the high Alfve′n speed environment, on the other hand, the echo due to the reflection of the fast shock on the bottom boundary could be so strong that its interaction with the slow mode shock and the velocity vortices produces the second echo propagating downward and causing the secondary disturbance to the boundary surface. We suggest that this second echo, together with the slow shock and the velocity vortices, could constitute a possible candidate of the source for the EIT wave.